Archive for January 2009

Dallas (AP) – The coach of a Texas high school basketball team that beat another team 100-0 was fired Sunday, the same day he sent an e-mail to a newspaper saying he will not apologize “for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity.”

Kyle Queal, the headmaster for Covenant School, said in The Dallas Morning News online edition that he could not answer if the firing was a direct result of coach Micah Grimes’ e-mail disagreeing with administrators who called the blowout “shameful.”

Queal did not immediately answer phone messages or e-mail from The Associated Press.

On its Web site last week, Covenant, a private Christian school, posted a statement regretting the outcome of its Jan. 13 shutout win over Dallas Academy. “It is shameful and an embarrassment that this happened. This clearly does not reflect a Christlike and honorable approach to competition,” said the statement, signed by Queal and board chair Todd Doshier.

Grimes, who has been criticized for letting the game get so far out of hand, made it clear in the e-mail Sunday to the newspaper that he does not agree with his school’s assessment.

“In response to the statement posted on The Covenant School Web site, I do not agree with the apology or the notion that the Covenant School girls basketball team should feel embarrassed or ashamed,” Grimes wrote in the e-mail, according to the newspaper. “We played the game as it was meant to be played. My values and my beliefs would not allow me to run up the score on any opponent, and it will not allow me to apologize for a wide-margin victory when my girls played with honor and integrity.”

A phone number for Grimes could not be located by The Associated Press. The Dallas Morning News said Grimes did not respond to their repeated e-mail requests for a telephone interview.

There was no answer at a number listed for Doshier.

A parent who attended the game said Covenant continued to make 3-pointers — even in the fourth quarter. She praised the Covenant players but said spectators and an assistant coach were cheering wildly as their team edged closer to 100 points.

Covenant was up 59-0 at halftime.

Dallas Academy has eight girls on its varsity team and about 20 girls in its high school. It is winless over the last four seasons. The academy boasts of its small class sizes and specializes in teaching students struggling with “learning differences,” such as short attention spans or dyslexia.

There is no mercy rule in girls basketball that shortens the game or permits the clock to continue running when scores become one-sided. There is, however, “a golden rule” that should have applied in this contest, Edd Burleson, the director of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, said last week. Both schools are members of this association, which oversees private school athletics in Texas.

The story has received national attention, and the Dallas Academy team has been recognized for refusing to give up during the lopsided contest.

Republicans opposing an Obama administration order to close Guantanamo Bay prison facility within a year suggest sending terror detainees to House Speaker Pelosi’s district.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday shrugged off Republican suggestions that the federal government reopen Alcatraz prison in her San Francisco district to house detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

President Obama this week signed an executive order calling for the closure of the prison at Guantanamo within the year. Republican Rep. Bill Young then suggested to White House counsel Greg Craig that the prisoners who could not be released back to their home countries or sent to a third country be put up in “the Rock,” the famous military installation and prison that closed down in 1963 and is now part of the National Park Service.

Asked whether that was a serious proposal, Pelosi said, “It is — no.”

“Perhaps he’s not visited Alcatraz,” Pelosi said of Young while displaying little sense of humor. “Alcatraz is a tourist attraction. It’s a prison that is now sort of like a — it’s a national park.”

That explanation didn’t stop House Minority Leader John Boehner from repeating the suggestion on Sunday, making that point that closing down Guantanamo by year’s end may not be the best plan considering the recidivism rate of terrorist detainees is about 12 percent.

“If liberals believe they ought to go, maybe we ought to open Alcatraz,” Boehner, R-Ohio, told NBC “Meet the Press.” Being reminded that Alcatraz is a national park, Boehner responded, “It’s very secure.”

The argument is just the latest iteration in an ongoing dispute over what to do with the remaining 245 enemy combatants who were to be tried in military commissions until a stay was ordered by the president last week in one of his first official acts.

Boehner said the promise to close Guantanamo by year’s end is impractical.

“Unilaterally saying it without knowing how were going to deal with themÃ¢â‚¬Â¦keeps a campaign promise, but may be irresponsible,” he said.

But Pelosi called the plan to use the next year to review the case of each detainee is “brilliant.”

“What the president put forth was very wise. He said he’s going to close Guantanamo, take the time to do it. You can’t just go down there today and say, ‘Everybody out,’ and lock the door. They’re going to review the cases, narrow it down and then go from there. … It’s brilliant,” she said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Vice President Biden, speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” said the prison must be closed because the symbolism of Guantanamo around the world has resulted in the growth of terrorist organizations, not their reduction.

“There’s no question it has to be closed. And we don’t think it’s inconsistent to deal with our national security and our Constitution. … That’s why we have the White House counsel — Mr. Craig is now going through this meticulously, deciding what we’re going to do with each and every prisoner,” he said.

Biden added that if the detainees went through the civilian court system and were somehow released, they still would not be sent out into the United States because all but one is an American citizen

“If they are not a U.S. citizen or if they are not here legally, then, even if they were released by a federal judge, they would not be able to stay here in the United States. They would be sent back to their country of origin. They would not stay here,” Biden said.

“They have no legal status to stay here, I don’t anticipate that happening. What I anticipate happening is that those people who are in a situation where it is either the evidence is in question or it’s going to be hard to make a case, we will most likely be rendering them back to their countries of origin or another country,” he continued, adding that some countries have already agreed to establish prison facilities for the detainees.

A great blog about Miss Indiana in the talent competition of the Miss America 2009 Pageant Via (OneAngryman.com)

Then they called up Miss Indiana in the talent competition. She is a 22-year-old University of Indianapolis student that battled a throat infection and laryngitis throughout the week. Katie Stam walked to the microphone with her proud parents looking on and sang Via Doloroso the way of suffering.

The firm represents 17 Yemeni nationals and one Pakistani citizen held at Guantánamo Bay. The Supreme Court will soon review the D.C. Circuit’s ruling that ordered the dismissal of a number of habeas petitions filed by Guantánamo detainees; some of our clients are petitioners in the Supreme Court case. We expect to play a substantial role in the briefing. We also plan to petition the Supreme Court to hear our Pakistani client’s appeal from the D.C. Circuit’s order dismissing his case. Further, we are pursuing relief in the D.C. Circuit under the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 for all of our clients. On a separate front, we filed amicus briefs and coordinated the amicus effort in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld in which the Supreme Court in the summer of 2006 invalidated President Bush’s military commissions and in which we have obtained favorable rulings that our clients have rights under the Fifth Amendment and the Geneva Conventions.

Yes that says Yemeni Nationals, and what did we find out Fri. about a former Guantánamo detainee?

A Saudi man released from Guantanamo after spending nearly six years inside the U.S. prison camp is now the No. 2 of Yemen‘s al-Qaida branch, according to a purported Internet statement from the terror network.

Well I wonder if they will continue to help free the terrorists who go right back to the fights?

Becomes 1st new president to miss inauguration event

Since its inception in 1953, every new president has attended The Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball – until now.

The ball was created for President Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration to honor recipients of the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award. The event is sponsored by the American Legion and co-sponsored by 13 other veteran’s service organizations, including the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

And while 48 of the nation’s 99 living recipients of the Medal of Honor attended the event, reports the Cleveland Leader and various self-attested attendees of the ball, newly sworn-in President Barack Obama became the first president in 56 years to skip out on the ceremony.

Obama’s itinerary on Inauguration Day, however, did include attendance at 10 balls in his honor, many of which were graced by a cast of the nation’s biggest music and movie stars.

According to a Sofia News Agency report, the president and first lady began at the Neighborhood Ball, dancing to the song “At Last,” performed by popular music star Beyoncé. The dance also boasted attendees Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Mary J. Blige, Faith Hill, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Adam Levine, Sting, Mariah Carey and Leonardo DiCaprio.

The Obamas also attended the Home State Ball for Illinois and Hawaii, the Youth Inaugural Ball, a handful of regional balls and the Commander-in-Chief Ball, which was also attended by veterans and members of the military.

At the Commander-in-Chief Ball, the Sofia News Agency reports, Obama took time to address veterans.

“It is wonderful to be surrounded by some of the very best and bravest Americans,” Obama said. “Your courage, your grace and your patriotism inspire us all.”

News of new president’s snub of the Heroes ball, however, launched a flurry of comment on the blogosphere, from angry veterans questioning if this is what Obama means by “change” to supporters who have labeled the whole story a hoax, claiming the ball never took place.

The Jackson Sun, however, reports of at least one veteran who attended the Salute to Heroes Inaugural Ball at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C., and the Blackfive blog reports receiving a press release from the American Legion about the controversy.

According to the blog, the Legion’s media relations manager Craig Roberts wrote, “President Obama was invited but did not attend. Vice-President Joe Biden did appear, however, and was very warmly received. The new President’s absence was understandable considering the unprecedented logistical challenges presented by the vastly increased number of visitors to this inauguration and the necessary attendant security measures. The American Legion, as an organization, does not feel offended or ‘snubbed.'”

LOS ANGELES — For tens of thousands of U.S. Marines in Southern California, new orders from the brass amount to: Baghdad si, Tijuana no.

Citing a wave of violence and murder in Mexico, the commanding officer of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton has made the popular military “R&R” destinations of Tijuana and nearby beaches effectively off-limits for his Marines.

The order by Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland restricts travel into Mexico by the 44,000 members of the unit, many of whom have had multiple tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat zones under their belts — or are there now.

The limits were first put in place for the Christmas holiday. Last week the commander extended the order indefinitely, said Mike Alvarez, civilian public information officer for the unit at Camp Pendleton.

“The situation in Mexico is now more dangerous than usual,” he said. “The intent is just to look out for the Marines’ safety and well-being.”

Tijuana has been a popular attraction for Californians since Prohibition days, when legal liquor was unavailable north of the border. In more recent times, its 18-year-old drinking age, cheap prices, gambling, beaches, tourist-oriented businesses and bars have attracted civilians and off-duty military from the San Diego area and elsewhere.

San Diego, heavy with Navy and Marine presence, adjoins the Mexican border and Camp Pendleton is in northern San Diego County, about 50 miles from the border.

Fallen on hard times

These days, sidewalk restaurants along Tijuana’s main tourist street, Avenida Revolucion, often are empty. Tourists are buffeted by barkers and merchants desperate for U.S. dollars. Visitors may be approached with offers of drugs or prostitution as well.

Tijuana, like Ciudad Juarez across the border from El Paso, has been hit particularly hard by the drug violence that has spread across Mexico. Tijuana saw its bloodiest year ever in 2008 with 843 killings, compared with 337 the previous year.

The violence in Tijuana grew toward the end of last year and continued this year with numerous execution-style slayings. Many of the bodies were found decapitated. The State Department has issued a travel alert for Americans going to Mexico.

Officials from the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana regularly check with Mexican police and jails for Americans in trouble, and U.S. military Shore Patrol officers check daily. Alvarez said “there have been incidents from time to time” but did not know how many Marines have gotten into trouble.

Helland’s directive requires written approval from a lieutenant colonel or higher-ranking officer for travel across the border — whether for official business, to visit family or for leisure, known in the military as rest and relaxation, or R&R.

Marines venturing over the border also must complete anti-terrorism training, receive a military security briefing and “use the buddy system,” that is travel with a companion 18 or older, according to Helland’s order.

Most of the affected Marines are at Pendleton, but some are at other bases in Southern California and Arizona. And 13,500 members of the unit are currently deployed overseas, said Alvarez, a retired captain and helicopter pilot who served three tours in Iraq.

As part of the order, Marines who cross the border on approved travel must carry contact information for the U.S. Consulate General and the Border Shore Patrol.

The restrictions don’t apply to the more than 75,000 active duty Navy sailors in the area, but they are required to inform their chains of command if they cross the border, said Lt. (j.g.) Lenaya Rotklein, public affairs officer for the Navy Region Southwest Command at San Diego.

For Marines, the order is enforceable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Violators could face a court-martial.